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7/24/13, "Darrell Issa: Energy Department Whistleblowers Gagged," Washington Free Beacon, Lachlan Markay
"Energy Department officials prohibited subordinates from speaking
with congressional investigators about their probe into illicit hiring
practices and related whistleblower retaliation allegations, according
to the lead investigator.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, revealed in a letter obtained by the Washington Free Beacon that the deputy secretary of energy issued the gag order following a scathing inspector general report last week.
The report revealed that the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), a
division of the Department of Energy (DOE), had violated DOE hiring
guidelines in ways that disadvantaged military veterans.
BPA employees who cooperated with the IG’s investigation, the report found, were fired, suspended, or otherwise sanctioned.
Issa revealed in a Wednesday, July 17, letter that Deputy Secretary
of Energy Daniel Poneman “verbally instructed Elliot Mainzer, the
individual [Poneman] chose to serve as acting administrator of BPA, that
no BPA employees were to talk with anyone regarding these allegations,
including congressional investigators.”
Issa suggested that such a gag order could be illegal. “Obstructing a congressional investigation is a crime,” he noted.
“Additionally, denying or interfering with employees’ rights to furnish
information to Congress is against the law.”...
Oversight Committee spokesman Ali Ahmad told the Oregonian that a senior BPA official had informed the committee of Poneman’s gag order.
Issa requested a response from Poneman by noon on Wednesday. The
committee could not confirm whether it had received a response by press
time.
“BPA employees have the right to talk with Congress and to provide
Congress information free from interference by the Department of
Energy,” he wrote. “These employees also have a right to be free from
fear of retaliation for sharing information with Congress.”
A BPA spokesman referred questions to DOE’s press office, which did not respond to a request for comment." via Tom Nelson
==============================
7/22/13, "Bonneville Power Administration employees told to speak out about concerns without fear of retaliation," oregonlive.com, Ted Sickinger
"The acting chief of Bonneville Power Administration told the 3,000
employees of the federal power marketing agency on Friday that they
should feel free to "speak out, voice any concerns, or lodge complaints
with any authoritative body as they see fit, without fear of
retaliation."
The email came four days after two of BPA's top executives were escorted out of the agency's Lloyd District headquarters
amid complaints that managers had retaliated against whisteblowers
during an investigation of BPA's hiring practices. Mainzer was appointed
acting administrator last week, though some members of Congress are
concerned that BPA and its governing agency, the U.S. Department of
Energy, are still trying to muzzle employees.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R- Calif. and
chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, wrote
Deputy U.S. Energy Secretary Daniel Poneman last week to express those
concerns: "Today, I learned that on Monday, you verbally instructed
Elliot Mainzer, the individual you chose to serve as acting
administrator of the BPA, that no BPA employee were to talk with anyone
concerning these allegations, including congressional investigators."
Ali Ahmad, a spokesman for the House Oversight Committee,
said it learned about the alleged muzzling from a senior BPA official
who has been with the organization for a number of years. The letter to
Poneman was written to make sure all BPA employees were made aware of
their right to communicate directly and independently with Congress.
The Energy Department would not answer direct questions or confirm
any instructions had been given to Mainzer in the first place. It still
has not commented on the status of BPA Administrator Bill Drummond and
chief Operating Officer Anita Decker, who were put in administrative
limbo last week as the U.S. DOE's Office of Inspector General issued a
management alert and sent a team to Portland to conduct a management
review of the agency.
Indeed, the BPA's own communications arm appears to be the subject of
a gag order. Its staff refer all questions on the investigation and
review to the DOE, whose own communications staff will not answer
specific questions. The agency did, however, forward the email that
Mainzer sent to BPA staff on Friday morning.
In the email, Mainzer acknowledged that the management alert came on
the heels of an extensive investigation by the U.S. Office of Personnel
Management and a review by the DOE Office of Human Capital that
uncovered widespread errors and violations of merit system rules and
civil service laws in BPA's recruiting and promotion activities. Those
violations disadvantaged some applicants including veterans, and the
review also detailed allegations of retaliation against employees who
had raised concerns about the hiring practices....
Earlier this month, BPA was ordered to provide the Energy Department
with all documentation associated with proposed "adverse actions"
against two employees in BPA's human capital office. The DOE
subsequently suspended BPA's authority to take any adverse actions when
it learned the agency was on the verge of proposing the removal of a
third human capital employee, and instruct anyone on administrative
leave due to such an adverse action to return to work."
============================
BPA.gov, "About Us"
"The Bonneville Power Administration is a federal nonprofit agency based
in the Pacific Northwest. Although BPA is part of the U.S. Department of
Energy, it is self-funding and covers its costs by selling its products
and services. BPA markets wholesale electrical power from 31 federal
hydro projects in the Columbia River Basin, one nonfederal nuclear plant
and several other small nonfederal power plants. The dams are operated
by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation. About
one-third of the electric power used in the Northwest comes from BPA."...
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